by
Rick Peake

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE !
Reading a lot of articles about lure fishing in magazines and on the Internet, it occurred to me that spinners don't seem to get nearly the coverage and credit that I think they deserve, and so I'm very grateful to Nick for the opportunity to put my own spin on things via this short article.

"Lure fishing" and "Spinning" are often regarded as being synonymous with each other and this is hardly surprising because, together with spoons, spinners are one of the most basic types of lure. Basic they may be but they can also be very effective too, in my opinion. In fact, I think that spinners are often totally under-rated.

It's quite true that spinners are the natural cheap 'n' cheerful first choice for anyone who wants a casual bash at lure fishing and there's no doubt that this "chuck it and chance it" style of fishing can be a lot of fun, and that's what fishing should be all about.

Unfortunately this "chuck it and chance it" fun-style of lure fishing may fool younger, less cautious and unwary predators at lot of the time, but it's unlikely to lure the older, bigger and much more wily ones. So I guess that this is probably one of the main reasons why spinners have earned the undeserved and unfair reputation of only catching small fish when in fact the fault (if that's the appropriate word) is more down to the anglers than the spinners themselves.

HACKLED SPINNERS ARE THE BIZ
I especially rate hackled spinners and I reckon that in the hands of skilled and experienced lure anglers who tackle their venues with a bit of stealth, spinners are real winners, big time! They'll lure every predatory species under the sun, plus anything else that takes an opportunist grab at what appears to be a small, unsuspecting silver fish passing by.

From asp to zander, spinners can really deliver the goods if you use them to maximum effect, but which spinners to use? The choice is vast although there seem to be about four main styles of spinner blade which dictate how the spinner performs. There are of course different body weight and styles too. There are some very nice big hackled spinners around these days such as Mepps Musky & Giant Killers and Joe Bucher's Buchertails.

In between these two extremes comes a whole shoal of spinners with blades intermediate in shape between the Colorado and willow, the most well-known being the classic French-style blade of the Mepps Comet. Other all-time classics that I use constantly include Abu's wonderful Reflex spinner and I've also always got one of my original mackerel spinners in my box too.

Some spinners are best suited to slow or still waters such as the Colorado-bladed Rublex Ondex while others with slim, rapidly-revolving willow-leaf blades, such as the Mepps Aglia Longue, are better suited to faster flowing water or a faster retrieve.

KILTY TRILURE
Another rather unusual hackled spinner that I always take with me is what I think was originally called a Kilty Trilure. It's a sort of big in-line mackerel type spinner with a hammered finish blade. I've seen it under various other names such as I think Barrie's Buzzer or Hornet. Whatever its name, it's one to have in your box of spinners.

There are a few other different blade designs such as the Mepps Thunderbug which I'm sure is a re-incarnation of a spinner of the same type of blade from years ago. Thinking that if it's Mepps it must be good, I have been trying out these Thunderbugs with their blade design that's like a fly's wings. Anyway, sadly as far as I'm concerned, they've been a bit of a dead loss. They work best in slow moving water but don't seem to catch nearly as many fish as my faithful Ondexes.

ONDEX, R.I.P. ?!
It's very sad about Ondex spinners and Rublex who used to manufacture them but have now gone bust. I can't imagine lure fishing without an Ondex, can you?

SHYSTERS AND SONICS
The heavily hackled Luhr Jensen Shyster and BangTail spinners are some more favourites of mine but if I had to put all my money on just one spinner at the moment, it would have to been the Worden Sonic Rooster, but I guess you've all got your own favourites.

I don't know exactly what it is about these Sonics but they really have done the business for me for perch, pike and chub. I'm not sure exactly why they're called "Sonic"? Maybe as it revolves, the blade touches the body and makes a sound, or what? Anyway, whatever it is, they're the Biz!

Another Sonic-type spinner that I've trying out recently and which I've found to be very good on smaller venues is the Wordens Vibric, a tidy little lure! Another very similar spinner that's almost as good, is Rapala's Vibrax but I've just got that sneaking feeling that the Wordens with their hackled Rooster Tail hooks have a slight edge over the Vibraxes. Panther Martin spinners aren't bad either although I still think that they'd do better with hackled hooks, so I usually add some of my own.

ALWAYS USE A CONDOM !
The good old Flying C spinner has got a rubber skirt instead of a hackled hook but it works just as well — to use that very well-worn expression yet again, these Flying Cs are a "must" for any angler's lure box. So the moral here is not to over-look the golden Oldies either, that's if you want to get the very best from your spinning.

Whatever your favourite spinners, I just hope that you agree with me that they are great all-round lures, often mocked and under-estimated, that fished with skill and stealth, really are winners! Rick Peake.

Nick's Notes: Hmmh .. food for thought there, Rick. I guess you're probably quite correct that spinners are under-estimated and under-used by some anglers — good point!

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